Robbie Blair wins 9th annual Fall Classic, DuPont is ULMS champion!
East Smethport, PA, October 11, 2014
171 of the best drivers in the region signed into McKean County Raceway for the 9th Annual Fall Classic, run in honor of Don Hardy, a former driver and winning crew chief, and Jim Butler, a premier photographer in the formative years of the United Late Model Series.Time trials were run for the RUSH Crate Late Models and the United Late Model Series with Rob Blair setting fast time for the ULMS cars At 14.77 and Charlie Sandercock at 15.66 in the RUSH Late Models.
Former Fall Classic winners Chub Frank and Robbie Blair brought the Jim Butler Memorial/Race Fan 50 to green with Blair powering to the lead over Frank, Max Blair, Davey Johnson, and Mike Knight. ULMS points leader Jason DuPont was eighth in the early running. At eleven laps complete Blair came to lapped traffic just as caution flew when Dan Stone slowed in turn four. At green Max Blair got by Frank but five cars tangled on turn three. Mike Altobelli Jr and Jerry Bard were attended by the safety crew and released. On green Frank was able to regain second with Knight up to fourth and Johnson fifth. At halfway Blair had a quarter lap lead as he reached the back-markers again, allowing Frank to start closing in with Max Blair third over Knight and Johnson. At thirty complete. Frank had closed the gap and was challenging for the lead at lap 33 with Max Blair and Knight closing in on Frank. At 35 into the race Blair again started opening a lead and at the checkers held a four length lead over runner-up Frank, Max Blair, Mike Knight, and Johnson. Last year’s winner Boom Briggs finished sixth with Dick Barton seventh. With his eighth-place finish Jason DuPont secured the ULMS championship by one point over Rob Blair. Kyle Hardy and Jim Yoder filled out the top ten.Mike Kinney and Butch Southwell led the seventeen
Close Racing Supply UEMS Modifieds to the green for their 25-lap season-ending feature after qualifying on the first night of the Fall Classic. Caution slowed the field after just one lap, that narrowly led by Kinney. After green Kinney stretched his lead to several car-lengths by the time caution again flew at lap eleven for a minor spin by Rob Middleton. A lap later caution flew for a multi-car incident in turn four. At halfway it was Kinney leading Southwell, Nathan Hill, Vic Vena, and John Boardman. At eighteen complete Vena spun out of the third spot. Caution flew again at lap 23, setting up a green/white/checkers run to the finish. At the finish Kinney had a two car-length lead over Hill, who came to second over Southwell on the final turn. Boardman wound up fourth with Al Brewer fifth
Results:
ULMS Super Late Models Jim Butler Memorial Race Fan 50 $5000 to win:
Heat 1: Rob Blair, Mike Atobelli, Chad Hollenbeck, Dan Stone
Heat 2: Kyle Hardy, Mike Knight, Boom Briggs, Darrell Bossard
Heat 3: Davey Johnson, Chub Frank, Jason DuPont, Dick Barton
Heat 4: Max Blair, Greg Oakes, Jim Yoder, Dylan Yoder
B-Main 1: Rich Gardner, Doug Eck, Chad Hollenbeck, Duane Stiner,
B-Main 2: John Lacki, Jerry Bard, Justin Kann, Chris Hacket
Feature: Rob Blair, Chub Frank, Max Blair, Mike Knight, Davey Johnson, Boom Briggs, Dick Barton, Jason DuPont, Kyle Hardy, Jim Yoder, Dylan Yoder, Chris Hackett, Chad Hollenbeck, John Lacki, Duane Stiner, Doug Eck, Rich Gardner, Dutch Davies, Mike Altobelli, Dan Stone, Darrell Bossard, Jerry Bard, Justin Kann, Greg Oakes
Close Racing Supply UEMS Modifieds
Feature: Mike Kinney, Nathan Hill, Butch Southwell, John Boardman, Al Brewer, Dan Sasso, Tim Peterson, Steve Rex, Josh John, Mike McGee, Carl Ballinger, Garvey, Darren Tarabori, Rob Middleton, Vic Vena, Troy Carr, Justin Chaddock
FRIDAY
ULMS Mike “Mountain Man” Reed Memorial:
Dylan Yoder, Jason Dupont, Justin Kann, Max Blair, Greg Oakes, Dan Stone, Bump Hedman, Keith Hardy, Jim Yoder, Chad Hollenbeck, Dick Barton, Dave Zona, Chris Hackett, Pete Alspaugh, Doug Eck, Devin Lewis, Dutch Davies, Rich Gardner, John Lacki, Duane Stiner, Rob Blair, Paul Briggs, Darrell Bossard, Michael Oakes